Day Two in Ukraine

Ryan and I had a wonderful second day in Ukraine. After a much needed,great night of sleep, we were ready to sight see today! Eugene, our tour guide, met us at our apartment at 9 am to show us around the city.

 Eugene

We started out the morning by going to the Museum of History and St. Andrews church, but they were both closed. St. Andrews is a beautiful church, and it is a popular wedding spot, especially in the fall.

St. Andrews Church

Ukrainian humor..this depicts a wedding scene and is in the middle of a side walk right outside of St. Andrews Church.You can't see it in the picture, but there is a beetle on the man's behind, which he is supposedly going to put on his brides wife for good luck.

We learned a ton about the history of Kiev from Eugene, and learned that  Great Duchess Olga and Great Paul Reedemer are patron saints of Ukraine. We visited St. Sophia's Cathedral. It was built in the 11th century under the reign of Yuroslav the Wise's father Vladimir the Great.

 Tower into St. Sophia's with St. Sophia in the background

 St. Sophia's

Ryan and me in front of the tower

Right outside of the cathedral, we came across a musician. The music and singing was beautiful

Statue of Yuroslav the Wise in front of St. Sophia's

After St. Sophia's cathedral, we ate lunch at a lovely restaurant that is adjacent to a park near the Museum of History. Ryan ordered meat dumplings, potato pancakes, and green Borsch. I ordered Chicken Kiev...not really a traditional Ukrainian dish, but it does have Kiev in the name:)

After lunch, Ryan and I headed back to the apartment to rest. We decided to venture out for a walk through the park before dinner. The park had all of these very interesting sculptures.

 Sitting inside a cat's mouth!

 Silly frog!

 Ryan in another cat's mouth

 They had a bunch of these towers of pillows with strange little children perched on top

 Boys will be boys:)

View from the park of the Museum of History and St. Andrew's 

We met up with Eugene who was with a sweet couple adopting from Louisiana, and new friends from North Carolina who are here adopting as well for dinner. I failed to get a group shot, but did get a picture of my food.

I ordered rice soup and blitzes with chicken and mushrooms. I was worried about the food, but everything has been delicious so far!

As you go to sleep tonight, please say a prayer for us. We have our SDA appointment at 10 am local time, which is 2 am CST. This is where we will be presented with A's file. We pray that this appointment goes well, and that the SDA does not see any reason we should not be given her file. If all goes well, we should be done by 11 am, and free to pick up her file officially on Wednesday. Thank you in advance for your prayers!!!